They Called Me a Genius
by Oldest Soul
Summary: We all have our demons. Uzumaki Himawari found that out the hard way. It is a time of peace in the ninja world, but internal war is all too real for one of Konoha's most promising kunoichi. For how can Himawari protect the village she loves . . . when her very nature is to destroy it? Post-epilogue. Possible Sarada/Bolt.
1. The Prodigy

**hello dears, i'm back with another Naruto fanfic!**

**let me begin by saying that the epilogue was a total piece of crap. Kishimoto didn't seem to get that people have their own personalities and genetic traits independent of their parents - people are not clones of their parents! (i'm talking to you, Boruto, Shikadai!)**

**but, I will take what I can get and work with the mess Kishimoto has made. **

**also, in the interest of clarity, Naruto's son, Boruto, his name is the Japanese pronunciation of "bolt". in this story I have made "Boruto" his full name and "Bolt" a nickname of sorts. **

**and without further ado, her is chapter 1!**

Chapter 1

"And," Aburame-sensei announced proudly, and a little louder than normal in an attempt to speak over his class, "We have a special guest speaker today!"

"Bet you twenty it's just another Chunin Hokage guard member." Shikadai whispered glumly from behind Himawari. She heard Inojin's reply from beside Shikadai.

"Be quiet, you might learn something from him."

"Aww, you're no fun." Shikadai replied. Inojin could be a little bit of an overachiever at times, and Shikadai a tad lazy, though the two were usually inseparable.

"Please welcome the sixth Hokage of Konoha, Hatake-sama!" Aburame finished excitedly.

"Wow! It's Kakashi-sensei!" Bolt leapt up from his seat in excitement as a middle-aged man entered the room amid applause, a shock of silver hair standing out starkly against the dark blue of his mask. Himawari sighed; her brother was such a dunce.

"Bolt, sit _down_." She hissed, "And you can't address him like dad does – he's the Sixth, you have to be respectful!"

"Aw, shut up, Wari-nee." Bolt grumbled as Aburame motioned urgently for him to sit back down, "You think you're so special just cuz you're _smart_. Kakashi doesn't mind – he knows us."

"I _am_ smart." Himawari whispered fiercely, "And don't call me Wari-nee!" she hated when people called her Wari – it sounded like it should be some sort of wart on her foot. She also hated it when Bolt brought up her smarts. True, she was a year and a half younger than everyone else in this classroom. Konoha called her a prodigy, the daughter of the Hokage, no less. So much so that she'd been moved up a grade level, now in the same class as her older brother, and heading the class with flying colors.

In some ways, she felt sorry for Bolt. Himawari was the one who got all the attention. The smart one, the child people expected from the Hokage. Bolt wasn't ignored by Konoha by any means, but Himawari outshone him in all measurable tests of excellence, and he strove to be recognized and to be accepted.

But as Sakura put it, Bolt was his father's son.

"No," Kakashi was saying to the class, "I'm talking about something more important to a ninja than Jutsu or Kekkei Genkai or brains. Anyone want to take a guess?"

Inojin put up his hand.

"You there, Yamanaka, aren't you?"

"Uh, yes, Hatake-sama. Um, I was going to say his physical aptitude."

"Wrong." Kakashi replied. Inojin looked crushed. "Something even more important."

Kakashi pointed to one of the Inuzuka twins. "Got anything?"

"His friends!" the Inuzuka exclaimed excitedly, looking up at his puppy companion.

"Close." Kakashi admitted, "Anyone else?" he looked around the room but no more hands stuck out so he decided to volunteer someone. "Himawari?"

Himawari sighed inwardly. The answer was obvious. "The well-being of the village is the main priority of the shinobi."

"Nope." Kakashi replied brightly. Himawari did a double take. He was just joking, right? She didn't volunteer answers much but she was never wrong. "The most important asset that a shinobi can have…is teamwork."

"Stupid Wari-nee." Bolt whispered from beside her, "Not even _you _are smarter than Kakashi."

Sometimes it felt like Himawari was the older sibling here and not Bolt.

Kakashi proceeded on to a short lecture on the value of teamwork before concluding and making his exit amid a smattering of applause.

"Now the reason I asked Hatake-sama to come in today," Aburame-sensei spoke up again over his class, "Is because very soon all of you will be full-fledged genin, no longer students at the academy. You will further study under a jonin level shinobi alongside two of your peers in squads of three. Now, let us again review what will be on your exams, beginning with taijutsu…"

…

"And can you please demonstrate a basic substitution jutsu?" Iruka asked calmly, picking up his pen. Himawari did as he asked, feeling her body grow taller as she imitated the appearance of the example ninja in front of her.

"Very good, Uzumaki-san. Now finally a genjutsu clone and you're free to go!"

After Himawari fabricated a sufficient clone of herself, she was released from the testing room with her certificate of graduation and "Yamanaka, Inojin" was called in for his exam.

"So Nii-chan, did you pass or no?" Himawari asked, half joking. Bolt snorted dismissively.

"Of course I passed! I'm gonna be Hokage so _duh_ I passed."

"Oh yeah? Let's see your certificate then." A new voice commanded skeptically. Sarada looked at the both of them through the lenses of her glasses, and Himawari glared.

Uzumaki Himawari and Uchiha Sarada were more alike than either of them wanted to admit. Intelligent, reserved, and naturals at most ninja techniques, both girls were always at odds, each trying to one-up the other. Sarada was aloof, standoffish, and slightly mysterious, while Himawari was somewhat wiser and more adaptive to situations out of her comfort zone.

Needless to say, the girls did not get along at the best of times. At the worst of times, they were staring daggers across the room at each other, though there was never an outright confrontation. Aburame-sensei had been smart enough never to pit them against each other during sparring sessions but the rivalry remained.

"He doesn't need to show you." Himawari replied coldly, "You heard what he said – he passed." In truth, she was afraid that Bolt _hadn't _passed; he was liable to do something like that, but she wasn't about to let him fend off Sarada on his own.

"Oh, hold on…I got it right here!" Bolt exclaimed, digging around in his pocket, oblivious to the sparks crackling between Himawari and Sarada. He produced a crumpled piece of paper from the depths of the cloth, smoothing out the wrinkles and presenting it to Sarada proudly.

"See? Told you I was going to be Hokage."

If his exam marks were anything to go by, Himawari thought, he'd be lucky to get to chunin level.

Sarada tossed him back the paper with obvious disinterest, then turned to Himawari.

"Let's see yours, Uzumaki."

"But I just –" Bolt started, only to be interrupted.

"Not _you_." Sarada snapped, gesturing towards Himawari, "I was talking to _her_."

"Oh." Bolt replied happily, unperturbed by the girl's unfriendliness, "Yeah, Wari-nee, bet you failed."

"I did not!" Himawari argued, displaying her certificate. Sarada scowled when she saw the near-perfect score and laid down her own. Himawari tried not to make it too obvious that she was looking at the marks but realized that Sarada had made the exact same score she had.

"Guess your ninjutsu needs a little work." Sarada smirked, reading the individual category numbers. Himawari's ninjutsu wasn't as good as her taijutsu or genutsu scores, although it was still better than Bolt's by a long shot.

"Guess your taijutsu needs some too." She answered, referring to Sarada's certificate.

"Guess so." Sarada answered, her glasses flashing as they caught the sun.

….

"Squad three under Tachibana Moegi," Aburame-sensei was reading from the list in his hand, pointing to each of his subjects as he spoke their name, "Hyuga Naroki, Inuzuka Kyouka, Uzumaki Boruto."

"Yesss!" Bolt sprung from his chair.

"Sit down, Boruto." Aburame-sensei sighed, not an uncommon occurrence in the classroom. Bolt sat down.

"Squad four under Sarutobi Asuri: Nara Shikadai, Akimichi Chocho, and Yamanaka Inojin."

Shikadai and Inojin high-fived and Chocho rolled her eyes at the two boys.

"Squad five under Sarutobi Konohamaru," Aburame-sensei announced, "Uzumaki Himawari, Inuzuka Taro, and Uchiha Sarada."

"Squad six under Fukui Udon. . ." Himawari heard no more of what Aburame-sensei said; she was busy fuming.

How _could_ her father do this to her? How could he put her on the same team as _that_ little snot Sarada?! It was ridiculous!

Yes, she had to admit that her father didn't know anything about the girls' dislike for each other, but he still could have chosen any other student in the entire class, yet he chose _her._

The idiocy.

**did you enjoy? more excitement later! oh, and you should know that Asuri Sarutobi is Asuma/Kurenai's daughter. I took it upon myself to name her and make her a jonin sensei ^w^**

**please review!**

**-oldsoul**


	2. Bakagan, Four Eyes, and Dog Breath

**here's chapter 2! and it's lengthy as well! (if you count 2000ish words as lengthy.)**

**anyway, hope you enjoy!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 2<p>

Himawari perked up eagerly as the door to the classroom opened once again. A dark curly head poked around the door and two bright eyes reminiscent of the Yuhi clan. She slumped back into her chair. Not Konohamaru Sarutobi then.

"Ino-Shika-Cho?" Asuri asked brightly, stepping fully into the room, "Squad number um…I don't remember."

"Squad four." Shikadai answered, obviously unimpressed. He gestured to Inojin and Chocho, "That'd be us I guess."

"Excuse me," Sarada asked skeptically from her seat in the corner of the room. Asuri turned towards her curiously.

"You're the Uchiha kid, right?"

Sarada nodded slowly.

"Well, what is it?" Asuri asked a little impatiently.

"I was just wondering," Sarada tilted her head in an annoying way that grated on Himawari's nerves, "If you were actually old enough to be a jonin sensei."

In a single, lithe movement, Sarada had just questioned not only Asuri's proficiency but also the liability of her new students, not to mention Himawari's father's judgement – as Hokage, he was in charge of all the team assignments.

Asuri's eyes sparked. "Well, Uchiha-san, I wonder if _you're_ old enough to become a genin." And with that, she was gone, taking her three students with her.

Sarada looked slightly flustered at this insult to her maturity, and shot a glare at Himawari as if this was _her _fault.

Himawari was finding that she quite liked this Asuri person.

A minute later, an average looking man entered wearing a blue scarf. He looked down at the papers in his hand.

"Squad five?" back to the papers, "Um…Uzumaki, Inuzuka, Uchiha?"

"Hey, that's us!" Taro Inuzuka and his silver husky, Hibiki jumped over a row of desks to get to the front of the room where Konohamaru was standing. Himawari and Sarada moved at a more reasonable pace.

"Oh but I forgot." Taro slumped, catching sight of his teammates, "I'm the only one who got put on a team with two _girls_."

Quick as anything, Sarada grabbed Taro by the collar or his aviator jacket.

"You wanna repeat that?" she hissed. Hibiki growled low in his throat and then Konohamaru was prying Sarada's fingers off of Taro's collar and dragging his students out the door away from the rest of the class.

"So. . ." Konohamaru began slowly once they were outside. He'd taken them to a spot underneath the Hokage Monument after their dramatic exit. Himawari looked up to the underside of her grandfather's chin. Bolt was always saying that his face would be up there someday but Himawari begged to differ. "Why don't you all tell me a little about yourselves? I'll start.

"My name is Sarutobi Konohamaru. My love is the village, my hobbies are . . . well, a jutsu that gets me a black eye from Moegi, my favorite food is Ichi-Raku ramen and the person I look up to is Naruto-nii."

_Naruto-nii?_ The only thing Himawari knew of Konohamaru was from her father's stories of being tailed around the village by Team Ebisu. Apparently, they were better friends then he'd let on.

"Okay, who's next?" Konohamaru pointed to Taro, "You."

"Well, I'm Inuzuka Taro." Taro said, then gestured to the dog, "And this is Hibiki. Our hobby is practicing awesome jutsu! I like dogs and I don't like girls." He glanced furtively towards his teammates who scowled back, "And my favorite food is jerky."

"Lovely." Konohamaru commented, then looked at Himawari. She sighed inwardly; this was a dumb exercise.

"I'm Uzumaki Himawari. I like being a ninja and I don't like sunflowers. My hobby is going to visit my uncle. My least favorite food is ramen."

"Can I ask which uncle?" Konohamaru asked in an innocent attempt to make conversation. Himawari picked at her thumbnail.

"My uncle Neji." She answered quietly, "He's in the shinobi cemetery."

Konohamaru nodded but said nothing, for which she was grateful, then turned expectantly to Sarada.

"My name is Uchiha Sarada." Sarada said darkly, "I don't really like anything. I dislike dogs, and know-it-alls," her eyes flicked towards Himawari, who snorted indignantly. If _she_ was a know-it-all then what did that make Sarada? "And" the girl finished with a meaningful glare at her new sensei, "Jonin who spend their spare time practicing dirty jutsu."

Konohamaru turned noticeably pink before deciding it would be best to abandon this particular activity and get on with things.

"Right. Before I can fully accept you as my students, I'm required to give you a test to see if you're worthy of becoming a real shinobi." Himawari's hand unconsciously went to her neck where she'd tied her blue hitai-ate they'd given her after she'd passed her genin exam. She traced the engraved Konoha symbol with a fingernail as Konohamaru continued.

"So, your task is to scale the Hokage monument in under five minutes."

"Is that it?" Himawari asked. It seemed like an awfully easy task.

"One rule" Konohamaru went on, "No chakra allowed. That includes Byakugan and Sharingan. Taro, you're responsible for Hibiki – the both of you count as one so you'd both better make it up there."

Himawari narrowed her eyes. The task was too easy – Bolt could do it with three paint cans strapped to his back. There was more to this than Konohamaru was letting on.

"Your time starts now." The jonin grinned and was gone, racing up the Fourth Hokage's face with chakra sparking at his heels.

Himawari glanced over at Sarada. Whatever happened, she was going to beat that girl to the top.

Taro was already starting up the wall, Hibiki perched awkwardly on his back. He paused to look back at his teammates.

"Whaddya think, Hibiki. How many minutes are we gonna beat them by? Ten? Twenty?"

"How many minutes is it going to take you to fall into the pits of hell?" Sarada snapped as the two girls began their ascent up the cliff. Himawari, who had been about to say something similar, albeit somewhat less extreme, decided she would beat _both_ of them to the top.

Unfortunately, Sarada seemed to have the same idea and the two raced neck and neck against the weathered rock.

The trouble started at the Fourth Hokage's chin. Himawari made it there first, Sarada right on her heels and Taro lagging behind. She heard the sharp _snap _and the rush of air – sure signs of a projectile being released. Himawari instinctively ducked, accidentally stepping on Sarada's head and sending her glasses askew.

"Shannaro! Watch where you're stepping, idiot!" Sarada hissed in agitation as three kunai buried themselves in the Fourth Hokage's jaw.

"Shut up, Four-Eyes," Himawari growled, "and help me look for a handhold." The rock was flattened here, smoothed by the wind and there were no places for climbing.

"I thought you were smart, Bakagan Girl." Sarada smirked. "You're supposed to use the kunai. Duh."

"It's Byakugan." Himawari muttered. She felt her face turning red – she should have realized the kunai were meant to be used as handholds, but she'd fallen into the same trap some dumbass like Taro might. Wrapping her fingers around the handle of one knife, she put her foot on another one and used it to pull herself onto the Hokage's nose.

With the contours of his face to help her, getting up to the hair was a cinch. Himawari guessed she maybe had two and a half minutes left before their five minutes was up.

It was at the hairline that Himawari suddenly stopped, senses on alert. Something was off. Sarada caught up to her in no time.

"What's the matter, Bakagan? Tired already?" she moved to get ahead of Himawari, but the younger girl held out her hand.

"No don't. Can't you sense that chakra? Someone's in there." She nodded towards the maze of the Fourth Hokage's hair Sarada glowered but Himawari knew she was able to sense the chakra, too. It would be easy just to use Byakugan to find the person but she guessed this was the very reason that Konohamaru had told them no chakra.

"We can go around," she whispered to Sarada, "Or we can go through."

"_We_ aren't doing anything." Sarada spat, "_You_ do whatever you want, but I'm going through."

"Sure about that?" someone else asked. Himawari nearly toppled off the Hokage's head as a person appeared in front of her.

"_Sensei?!_" why was Konohamaru here and not at the top waiting for them. Had she miscalculated the time they had remaining? Was she going to be sent back to the academy?

"Pull it together, Bakagan!" Sarada had retained her composure, kunai in hand, "It's just another obstacle; he's a shadow clone."

_I should have realized_. Himawari groaned to herself, knowing that Sarada had shown her up again.

But how was a genin supposed to land a reasonable hit on a jonin? Even if that jonin was only a shadow clone, he still had all the brain power and physical adeptness of the original Konohamaru. One good hit would be enough to get rid of him, but could she land one good hit in the little time she had left even without chakra?

Time was ticking, she may as well give it a shot.

Himawari and Sarada threw their kunai at the same time but Konohamaru deflected them both easily. Damn, she was going to have to take a detour and skip the shadow clone, she realized, or she'd never make it in time.

The instant the thought reached her mind Konohamaru read her intentions in her body language and enacted a one-way barrier around the three of them. Anyone could get in, but trying to get out would be useless.

"No fair!" Himawari exclaimed, "How come _you're_ allowed to use chakra and I'm not?"

"The world isn't fair, Himawari." Konohamaru said, dodging several shuriken from Sarada's direction, "You'll meet enemies who are far stronger than you, who have an advantage, who you have no chance against. And they won't be shadow clones, either."

_Damnit!_ She was running out of time! She had maybe one and a half minutes left to make it to the top. She could _see_ the real Konohamaru sitting cross legged on top of the cliff, watching them. If only she could get past the shadow-clone!

Again, Himawari and Sarada threw their weapons at the same time, only to have Konohamaru leap into the air to avoid them.

"Now!" Sarada shrieked and Himawari understood – while he was falling he had no control over where he went – they'd be able to hit him! She sent the kunai straight towards his chest, but the clone was already in the midst of performing another jutsu.

Their kunai split in half and went spinning. Himawari ducked but the tip of one knife still left a red streak on her cheek before bouncing off the barrier and clattering to the ground.

So Konohamaru had Wind chakra then, but judging from the feel of the barrier, he was also a Lightning Style user. As she had Hyuga lineage, Himawari had a natural adeptness for detecting chakra, and Aburame-sensei had said she had excellent chakra control.

"Again!" she called, aiming her weapons at the shadow clone's feet. But before the cold metal left her hand there was a streak and a growl and a puff of smoke. Konohamaru was gone, and in his place stood a boy and a dog, the dog bouncing happily and the boy twirling a kunai on his finger and looking incredibly pleased with himself.

"The whole point of being kunoichi." Taro sighed, "Is so you don't have to be damsels in distress. Don't make me and Hibiki come to your rescue all the time, okay? It's kinda humiliating."

"Piss off, Dog Breath." Himawari snarled, already on her way to the top. If _these_ were the teammates she'd have to deal with then she may as well fail Konohamaru's test and go back to the academy.

"Ungrateful females." Taro muttered, just a little behind her, "As usual."

Sarada said nothing.

"Five," Konohamaru was counting as Sarada disappeared over the flat of the cliff, "Four," As Himawari arrived, "Three…Two…" Taro leaped up, Hibiki panting happily on his back. "Oh, good, we're all here on time." Konohamaru finished cheerfully, "I really was hoping to avoid the paperwork involved with sending someone back to school."

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><p><strong>did u like? thoughts on chemistry on team 5? please review! :3<strong>

**-oldsoul**


	3. Girl on Fire

**chaptah 3! please enjoy!**

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><p><span>Chapter 3<span>

"You know, you remind me of him sometimes."

"Really?" Himawari asked, pleased that she had been compared to someone she so admired.

"You're more like him than Naruto or I." Hinata replied, adding another flower to the daisy chain she was making. Himawari finished patting in the soil around the two sunflowers she'd rehomed – right in front of the marble slab that read "Hyuga Neji".

Hinata traced the kanji with a soil-caked fingernail. She claimed not to like sunflowers because of the allusion to her name, but truth be told, they were one of her favorite things in the world because they reminded her of her uncle. After all, for as long as she could remember Himawari had been coming to lay sunflowers at Neji's grave.

Althought Himawari had never known Neji when he'd been living, he felt like a real uncle to her. As if he was always there, just out of sight. She knew as much as her parents did about the man. Who he truly was, how he would respond to every question.

"Do you think Ojisan watches over us?" she asked absently.

"Every day." Hinata smiled.

Himawari looked up, out over the rows and rows of grave markers. A tall form stuck out near the edge of the cemetery. Himawari squinted. "Who's that?"

Hinata raised her head from the daisy chain and lifted a hand to shade her eyes, following her daughter's gaze.

"Kakashi-sensei." She said, "He's talking to Rin."

"There's no-one but him." Himawari pointed out. Besides, she didn't know anyone by the name of Rin.

"She died in a. . .in an accident." Hinata explained, turning back to her daisies. She brought the head of the first flower through the stem of the last, making a full circle. "He likes to let her know what's going on in the village." Hinata laid the daisy chain around a corner of Neji's marker. "There. The circle symbolizes perfection. He'd like that. Always the perfectionist, Neji-nii."

Hinata stood up and Himawari did the same, wiping her dirt-streaked hands on her jeans.

"Have you been working on your Eight Trigrams at all?" Hinata asked as the two reached the gate to the cemetery.

"I got to sixteen palms yesterday." Himawari answered proudly. Hinata was teaching her and Bolt the beginnings of Hyuga jutsu. Himawari had already passed Bolt in terms of the chakra control required and so was excelling far above him in the Eight Trigrams. Unfortunately, when Naruto had tried to teach them Shadow Clones, hers had been pale and lifeless but Bolt had already managed to generate fifteen perfect clones of himself at one time, which he had been gloating about mercilessly for the past three weeks.

"Good." Hinata nodded. "Keep practicing and you'll eventually get to sixty-four, maybe even a hundred twenty-eight."

….

Himawari had made up her mind. She hated her sensei.

She hated the way he was always cheerful.

She hated how nothing bothered him.

She hated that he already knew how she thought.

She hated how he was always right.

Most of all, she hated how he had ways of forcing his team to work together without them even realizing it. Like on the Hokage's face when they'd come up against the shadow clone. Only the three of them together had managed to overcome it.

"Fire style, Fireball jutsu!" Himawari leaped to avoid Sarada's jutsu, feeling the heat pass by her.

"Lightning Style, Chakra Senbon!" Himawari retaliated by spinning her chakra into sharp needles crackling with energy. Sarada avoided some and deflected the rest with kunai, but hissed as one ripped her sleeve and cut her shoulder. The chakra would burn her more than a normal senbon, and would probably shock her a little due to its Lightning nature.

"Good!" Konohamaru called from the sidelines, "Keep going!"

Konohamaru was having his students spar to force them to find each others' weakness – they could function better as a team when they knew where the others needed work. Taro picked grass beside Hibiki, sulking because he'd lost his spar with Sarada earlier.

_If only she'd let me get close_. Himawari leaped grimly from tree branch to tree branch. Sarada had done her homework on the Byakugan and knew that if she let Himawari get in too close, the Gentle Fist would make short work of her.

Likewise, if Himawari got too close to Sarada, there was always the risk of making eye contact and getting caught in the Sharingan's genjutsu. She was lucky that they didn't share chakra nature, otherwise Sarada would be able to imitate her jutsu.

Himawari quickly tied a paper bomb to one of her kunai and tossed it at Sarada's feet, activating the bomb on impact with the ground. Sarada leaped back as Himawari dropped from her place in the tree into the smoke created from the explosion, her Byakugan already activated.

There! She could make out Sarada's chakra through the smoke – if she was lucky, Sarada's visibility would be low and Himawari would be able to cut off her chakra flow before she knew what was happening.

But Sarada was already out of the haze and in the clear air, as Himawari found out when she neared the other girl and was met with a flash of red eyes before Sarada disappeared.

_Damn! Genjutsu!_

Himawari held two fingers up in a handsign, focusing on stabilizing her chakra flow where it had been disrupted by the genjutsu. "Release!"

"Too late." Sarada's voice sounded behind her and the cold metal of a kunai was pressed to her neck.

"Got you now." Himawari smirked, her hand flashing up to Sarada's wrist. She hit a chakra point and Sarada's hand went limp, the kunai falling onto the grass with a muted thump. "Don't underestimate the Hyuga Clan."

Sarada leaped out of range but not before Himawari hit a few good chakra points with her Gentle Fist.

But they had been fighting for ten minutes now and she was getting tired. In a few seconds, she'd have to deactivate the Byakugan to let her chakra recharge, and then it would be a whole lot harder to detect genjutsu.

Hold on, what was that? There were two Saradas, one in front of her and one coming up behind her. She quickly checked the chakra of both. One was a Shadow Clone – an exact copy. Even with several of her chakra points closed up, Sarada was still able to make a flawless Shadow Clone. It grated on Himawari even more now that she knew both her brother and her rival had outstripped her in that degree.

Himawari decided to go first for the one behind her as she was forced to deactivate her Byakugan, fairly certain that it was the clone. The instant she turned towards it, the other one rushed her, tackling her in a matter of seconds.

"The Hyuga are nothing compared to the Uchiha." Sarada said, pinning Himawari's wrists to the ground. She noticed with a tinge of relief that Sarada's eyes were their normal back color. It looked like she'd run out of chakra as well.

"Say that again." Himawari snarled, kneeing Sarada in the stomach, "I dare you."

"I said." Sarada rasped, catching her breath, "That the Hyuga will _always_ be inferior to the Uchiha."

"I'll tell you who's inferior!" Himawari spat, still scrabbling with Sarada. A fingernail scratched her face, leaving a red mark and her clothes were stained with grass. "Is my mother inferior? Is my grandfather inferior? Is Neji inferior?!"

"Your mother is too soft! Your grandfather is too old to perform jutsu! Your uncle is _dead_!"

"My uncle was a hero!" Himawari landed a sharp jab on Sarada's nose, sending her glasses flying into the grass, and received a punch to her jaw in return. She tasted blood as her tongue got caught between her teeth.

"No, he was a normal Shinobi. He did only what was expected of him, nothing more!" Sarada replied angrily.

"He gave his life to protect my parents. I owe him my own life!"

"Enough!" Konohamaru reached down to pick up Sarada's glasses. Amazingly, they were still intact. The girls took no notice, continuing to go at each other.

"Don't try to make like he's special since he saved the Hokage." Sarada scoffed, "At that point in time, nobody would've thought that some little upstart like him would be Hokage anyway."

All Himawari could see was red as they rolled around on the grass, until she was yanked away from Sarada roughly by the collar.

"I said," Konohamaru growled, "Enough." He turned to Sarada in his right hand. "_You_ will be mindful of what you say about your Hokage." Then he swung around to face Himawari in his left hand. "_You_. . .holy shit."

Himawari looked down at her hands, following his gaze. They looked like they were on fire, red chakra crawling up her arms. Only now did she notice that they _felt_ like they were on fire. Panicking, she tried to stop the chakra flow, extinguish the fire.

"I – I can't stop it!"

She felt lightheaded. Konohamaru was shaking her roughly and saying something but his voice sounded far away.

And then everything went black.

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><p><strong>what did you think? ideas on what exactly is going on with Hima-chan? review!<strong>

**-oldsoul**


	4. The Slug Princess

**guess who passed drivers ed?! woohoo! **

**guess who has to wait a few months before she's old enough to get her permit. :(**

**anyway, please enjoy chapter 4 and please review!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 4<p>

"– and chakra is passed on genetically!"

Himawari woke to the sound of two people whispering and the unpleasant, sanitary smell of the hospital washed over her. She considered sitting up, but at the sound of her father's voice quickly closed her eyes. The speakers continued on obliviously.

"So what are you saying?"

"Shannaro! Have you not been paying attention to _anything_ I've just told you?! I'm saying that the effects of Himawari using that chakra were the _same_ as the effects the Nine-Tails-Cloak had on you!"

There was a pause.

"But how can Kurama be inside her? I'm still the jinchuriki."

"I just told you!" Sakura shout-whispered, "Chakra is passed on genetically! It's not Kurama himself, it's just his chakra, and she can't control it."

"So what are we gonna do?"

"That." Sakura replied smugly, "Is why I called in the expert."

"Sakura-chan, as head of the medical corps, I think you _are_ the expert."

"I must say." A new voice announced from the direction of the doorway, "I think I trained her quite well."

"Grandma!"

"Don't sound so surprised, Naruto." Tsunade sniffed, "And it wouldn't kill you to address me properly once in a while, would it?" she didn't pause for an answer but addressed Sakura. "It's got to be something pretty serious if you can't fix it."

_Pretty serious?!_ Himawari thought. She felt fine, so it couldn't be that bad right?

"Himawari's been showing signs of the Nine-Tails-Cloak." Sakura said in a clipped voice. "I wanted you to take a look at her to see if you've come to the same conclusions I have."

"Hmmm, I see. I'd be lying if I said I haven't speculated something like this would happen." Himawari heard footsteps as Tsunade neared the hospital bed. "Well, first things first. In order to master the art of fake sleeping, one must deepen one's breathing and keep one's eyelids from twitching. Now sit up, please, and we'll see what the problem is."

Sheepishly, Himawari sat up, getting a good look at the room.

Tsunade loomed over her, young as ever, while Sakura and Naruto lingered at the foot of the bed. Naruto winked when she caught his eye.

"How ya feelin', squirt?"

"Normal." Himawari replied as Tsunade took her wrist.

"If you would please, produce some chakra on your finger. Yes, just like that." Himawari's finger flared with blue chakra and Tsunade transferred some to her own finger and stuck it in her mouth. Himawari raised her eyebrows at her father, but he just winked again and grinned.

"Unusually large chakra reserves. . . and good strong Lightning nature." Tsunade nodded approvingly, "Just like your mother. But no sign of any chakra but her own." She turned to Sakura. "I assume you regrew her skin after the incident."

Sakura nodded and Himawari gave a start. "What do you mean she _regrew my skin_?! I didn't lose any skin!"

"Oh yes you did." Sakura interjected, "You're lucky that chakra dissipated once you passed out or things could've been much worse." She and Naruto shared an uncharacteristic serious glance.

"I think we'd better take an X-ray of her chakra network." Tsunade announced after another minute of poking and prodding, "Get Bolt down here, too. It's very possible that he could be in the same situation."

…

"Look here." Tsunade handed the X-rays to Sakura, pointing to somewhere around the middle. The medical nin nodded, brow furrowed.

"A secondary chakra network. In both of them."

"What did you do this time, Wari-chan?" Bolt muttered beside her.

"Shut up!" Himawari whispered, "I'm trying to listen!"

"Well?" Naruto asked impatiently. Sakura looked up, as though she had forgotten they were there, but it was Tsunade who began.

"The thought crossed my mind that if Naruto were ever to have children, the chakra of the Kyuubi might be passed on to them. I discarded the idea because technically, they would not be the Kyuubi's children, but apparently I was wrong."

"So they're like jinchuriki now?" Naruto asked incredulously.

"No," Tsunade corrected, "They don't have the Kyuubi itself inside them, so they aren't jinchuriki, only its chakra. Chakra is a very mysterious substance, and many times it appears to have a personality of its own. Since the Kyuubi's very nature is to hate, the chakra is unaccepting of human contact." She sighed. "Chakra is governed by emotions. Remember when Naruto was young and the Kyuubi would start to take over when he got too riled up? Well the same goes here." She nodded to Bolt and Himawari. "Until they learn to control it, they will constantly be struggling against the Kyuubi's chakra."

"But…they can control it, right?" Naruto glanced at his kids.

Tsunade shrugged, "That is up to them."

"You know. . ." Sakura spoke up slowly, "I think I . . . I might've felt some differences in their chakra before."

"What kind of differences?" Tsunade frowned.

Sakura hesitated. "It's not important. Now that I think about it, it was probably just the natural differences in the chakra of two different people. Forget I said anything."

"If you say so." Tsunade gave Sakura a funny look before marching out of the room with one last wary glance at Himawari.

"And Naruto," Sakura added, "You don't have to go spreading the word that they have Kyuubi chakra, okay? The villagers . . . well, they've accepted you as Hokage but. . ."

"I would never." Naruto said seriously. "I –"

"Haruno-san!" the face of an underling medical nin appeared in the doorway. "You're needed in the ICU. I was told it's urgent!"

"Very well." Sakura nodded, "Bye Naruto, it was good to see you again Bolt, Himawari!"

Bolt sprung from his seat after Sakura had left, "Awesome! I have Kyuubi chakra! You wait till I learn to control this stuff, I'll be so powerful that _everyone_ will choose me for Hokage!"

"You mean _if_ we can control it." Himawari corrected. "And Sakura said not to go around telling people."

"Aww, why not?" Bolt whined. Naruto smiled and his prosthetic hand appeared from the folds of his robe, ruffling Bolt's hair.

"Sometimes people aren't as nice as they seem."

"Yeah!" Bolt agreed, "They'll all be jealous of how cool I am!"

Naruto, seemingly deciding to let his son live on in naiveté for the time being, turned towards the door. "Learn to control that chakra, and you'll make me and Kurama proud, squirts."

"Ojisan, too." Himawari added, following her father and brother into the hallway. Naruto chuckled.

"Ojisan, too."

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><p><strong>yes? no? maybe?<strong>

**i'm not really sure where to go with this obsession Himawari has with Neji. ideas? review!**

**-oldsoul**


	5. The Essence of Life

**I was tempted to call this chapter "Kakashi's monologue." XD but I didn't**

** H. Uzumaki: you, my darling, are an absolute genius. a garden of inspiration! thank you!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 5<p>

"Are you sure you're all right?" Konohamaru asked patiently. Himawari ignored his outstretched hand and got to her feet herself.

"Fine." She snapped. It had been decided that only Konohamaru would be told of the nine-tails' chakra that resided inside Himawari and Bolt. As her sensei, Naruto had pointed out, he had a right to know. Ever since, he'd been treating her as if she were five years old, as if she were too delicate to breathe and might break at any given moment.

Sarada held a struggling black cat by the scruff in her right hand, looking down at Himawari in disgust as she brushed off her clothes. No doubt she thought Himawari was getting special treatment as the Hokage's daughter.

Hibiki sniffed at the squirming feline, taking a tentative swipe at the lashing black tail. The cat hissed and pulled its tail safely out of the way.

"You know you shouldn't hold it like that." Taro gestured to the cat in Sarada's hand, "Grown cats are too heavy to hold by the scruff. You might suffocate it."

"If the damn thing suffocates it'll be a blessing." Sarada spat as the cat added another red streak to the many that already lined her arm, shredding her mesh armor to ribbons.

"If the damn thing suffocates our mission is a failure." Konohamaru reminded her. Sarada held the cat out sulkily to Taro.

"Here." She muttered, "You take the demon cat."

Taro accepted this gift happily as Sarada inspected her mauled arm. Presently, a rumbling purr could be heard emulating from Taro's arms. Sarada glared on.

…..

A month later found Himawari in her usual place in the cemetery, knees at her chest as though to protect her from the chilly fall breeze. She'd asked Neji many times whether he knew how to control the Kyuubi, but as usual, Neji was silent.

Himawari dug the tip of her kunai into the ground, picking at the earth around wilting sunflowers with satisfying meloncholy.

"You've been coming here a lot recently." Himawari jumped and nearly cut herself on the kunai – she hadn't heard Kakashi behind her. "More than usual I mean."

"Yeah? So?" she asked grumpily, not bothering to be polite as she should be. Kakashi sat down on the other side of the grave marker, unperturbed by her lack of respect.

"So you're going to sulk about the Kyuubi?"

"Dad told you, huh?" Himawari should have been angry that her father had told Kakashi without at least letting her know. Somehow, she was only slightly annoyed. That was the sort of calming effect the cemetery had on her.

"Bolt doesn't let it bother him." Kakashi pointed out.

"Bolt is . . . well, Bolt is Bolt. Nothing bothers him."

There was a pause, in which Kakashi seemed to be looking towards the area where Himawari had seen him that day with her mother. Then, "You know, the Fourth Hokage was my sensei."

Himawari wanted to ask what the Fourth had to do with anything, but she held her tongue.

"He was more of a father figure in my life than anyone else. And when he died I was . . . I wasn't quite right for a long time. I guess I blamed Naruto. After all, if Naruto had never been born, the nine-tails wouldn't have gotten loose and Sensei might still be alive."

Himawari was slightly intrigued now, wondering where he was going with this.

"And then I found myself the teacher of Naruto, responsible for him." Kakashi chuckled a little. "He was a weird kid. Dumb, too. But he had something nobody else did."

"Teamwork." Himawari guessed flatly, knowing that it was Kakashi's favorite word.

"He was the worst at teamwork I've ever seen." Kakashi replied, "But Naruto just never gave up. It's as simple as that."

The Sixth Hokage gave one sad look at Rin's resting place, and then he was gone, leaving only the wind in his place.

So what was he saying? Himawari wondered. Was he telling her to not give up on controlling the Kyubbi's chakra?

Well, anyone who thought willpower alone ever did anyone any good was sadly mistaken, whether they had been Hokage or not.

…..

That night Himawari dreamed of a huge brick-red beast, of glinting white teeth, of sharp black pupils, of nine whiplash tails whistling through the darkness.

Two ivory claws pinched the back of her hitai-ate, right at the knot, lifting her by the neck. It was like the cat, suffocating as it was lifted by the scruff.

_So this. . . _a voice echoed in Himawari's head, deeper and darker than life itself, _this is the weakling human I find myself within._

"No!" Himawari shrieked, writhing in the grasp of the fox, beginning to panic in spite of herself, "Tsunade-sama said – she said it was only the chakra! My father is the jinchuriki!"

The Kyuubi laughed, the sound rattling in Himawari's skull. _Ah, but little one. Is not chakra the very essence of life? The most primordial state of being? Without it, you and I would be nothing. The boy Naruto has corrupted my conscious self, but the chakra. That is my true nature. And that can never be corrupted. _

Kurama dropped her then. He dropped her but her body remained floating. It was her hitai-ate that went spiraling into the darkness, the ribbon flapping like two arms reaching for help, symbol of Konoha flashing once as it disappeared.

Himawari woke in a cold sweat, moonlight streaming in through her bedroom window.

_Just a dream_. She told herself, _just a dream_.

And deep down, she knew it wasn't a figment of imagination. Somehow, there was one thing that Tsunade and Sakura hadn't accounted for – the chakra nature of the Kyuubi. Not Lightning, nor Wind nor Fire nor Earth nor Water, but pure undulated hatred.

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><p><strong>Kyuubi counseling! whoo!<strong>

**-oldsoul**


	6. Kunoichi

Chapter 6

The next time Kurama showed itself was not in the clutches of Sarada Uchicha, nor in the loose hold of unconsciousness, but on a mission. An escort mission, to be exact.

The client was a young man of twenty-seven called Raichi, who claimed to be transporting a valuable artifact to the Land of Wind and wanted protection against potential burglars. Himawari could see that his chakra network had once been activated, but due to considerable injury to the vessels around his vital organs, had been forced to shut down.

It was in the Land of Rivers that the trouble started.

"There are ninja behind us!" Himawari announced at around noon. As the most proficient sensory nin on team five, she was responsible for keeping watch.

"How many?" Konohamaru asked sharply. Himawari strained her Byakugan but the chakra was all one mass to her.

"I can't tell." She was forced to admit, "More than two, that's for sure."

"How far away?"

"Um . . . about a mile."

"They probably won't try to make a move till after dark." Konohamaru mused, then glanced at Himawari. "Are you tired? Need a break?"

"Im fine!" Himawari answered irritably, but in truth, she was tired from using the Byakugan nearly all day.

"Let Hibiki take a turn. They're close enough that he should be able to sense them now." Taro offered, eager to show off.

Hibiki barked and wagged his tail excitedly.

"You smell 'em, boy?"

"Don't let that dog near my piece." Raichi muttered distastefully, "Clumsy animal."

Taro, who had not taken a liking to the man so far, only scowled but was sensible enough to hold his tongue after the scolding he'd received previously from Konohamaru for attempting to pick a fight with the client.

Himawari closed her eyes, allowing her Byakugan a brief respite as later the sun began to sink lower in the sky.

Hours later, their pursuers began to close in.

"Six." Taro hissed in answer to the previous question, "six of them."

Konohamaru cast his gaze anxiously at the sun lingering dangerously close to the horizon.

"We don't want to be caught in the dark if we can help it." He pointed out, "And we're going to have to face them at some point. . ." Himawari could see him biting his tongue thoughtfully before he turned and pointed to her.

"We'll stop here for now. Himawari, I want you to guard Raichi – don't give me that look – your jutsu is best used defensively."

_Or I'm just the most _fragile _and must be kept out of harm's way_. Himawari bit back her bitter retort and moved to stand by Raichi, who looked down at her with a hint of skepticism.

"Sarada, Taro, think you can take two each?" Konohamaru asked. Sarada and Taro both nodded, and Konohamaru could distinctly be heard muttering, "Damn escort missions. Always turn out more dangerous than they should be."

Hibiki barked and Taro nodded in agreement. "They're fanning out. I think they want to surround us."

"All of you," Konohamaru cautioned, "Be _careful_. We don't know just how dangerous these nin are."

As if they were just carelessly going to jump into battle without a second thought for the enemy, Himawari thought, suppressing the urge to roll her eyes. Sarada's glassed flashed as she moved into position and Taro bounced on his heels. Himawari clenched her kunai so tightly that she could feel her fingers cramping. This would be their first real battle against a legitimate enemy, and everyone was nervous.

Fifteen minutes of tense adrenalin were all they had to endure. Six nin dropped like stones from the sky, landing catlike on the ground with nary a sound. Six nin dressed in black from head to toe, sparing only their eyes. Six nin with katana strapped to their backs and kunai at their waists.

They moved like streaks of lightning, all dashing towards the center of the defensive circle created by team five, all dashing straight towards Raichi.

Konohamaru was quicker, enacting his Lightning barrier as soon as he read their body movements.

Unfortunately, one of the enemy happened to be a Wind-style user. Realizing that wasting energy fighting against a superior nature would be useless, Konohamaru switched to a Fire-based attack.

Taro immediately went into a fang-over-fang rotation but the nin he was aiming for dodged the destructive blow easily, quickly forming hand-signs and meeting the young genin with a crushing wall of water.

Sarada seemed to be faring slightly better than her teammate. She was mirroring both of her opponents' movements completely; one of them had already fallen under her genjutsu but the other was keeping Sarada on her toes with a hail of small paper-bombs.

It was Taro's defense that broke first; preoccupied with one nin, the other slipped by him. Himawari allowed the chakra to flow to her eyes and raised her hands in the Gentle Fist Stance.

"Stay behind me." She murmured to Raichi, who obediently stepped back a pace to allow her fighting room.

The enemy nin began first with kunai, which Himawari easily blocked with her own. She dodged the fire-based jutsu that was sent towards her next, waiting for the nin to get within range of her Gentle Fist, but the black-clad shinobi danced just out of reach. Then there was a movement that caused Himawari to shift stances – a reach for glinting senbon.

_Yes! _She had been waiting for something like this to happen. Quickly, Himawari brought her hands round in opposite directions. She focused her chakra like her mother had taught her, becoming acutely aware of everything within her three-sixty-degree field of vision. Of the bright flare of chakra that was Sarada's fireball jutsu, of the unconscious enemy near Konohamaru's feet as he grappled with another, of Hibiki, panting with effort. Of the senbon raining down.

"Two palms!" Himawari heard herself shout, her chakra beginning to spin as the weapons bounced off her hands, "Four palms! Eight palms! Sixteen palms! Thirty . . . thirty. . ." and here her concentration broke and her chakra flew away in a rush, already depleted from the day's use of Byakugan added to the taxing jutsu she'd just performed. She blinked heavily and the next thing she knew, there was a tall stature behind her and a kunai cold on her neck.

"Don't move." The kunoichi hissed fiercely, "Or you _will_ die." Then she raised her voice, calling to her comrades, "I've got her! Here!"

Something was very wrong here, Himawari realized as Raichi stood awkwardly useless off to the side, not accosted in the slightest. It dawned that they hadn't been after Raichi's artifact at all. They had had a different target – Himawari.

"Well done, Mifune-chan!" another kunoichi called, ducking Sarada's swing. The one fighting Konohamaru admonished her. By the voice, it was a female, and based on the stature and weight distribution of the others, _all_ of them were kunoichi.

"Don't use that name!" she growled. Knocking Konohamaru's Lightning jutsu aside, she bolted, leaping into the air and landing neatly beside Mifune. "Chiyome-sama will be pleased. Let us take her quickly – we haven't much time before her team gets us."

Even now Sarada and Konohamaru were turning towards the center of the circle where Mifune held Himawari in a tight grasp. Taro was out of commission, as was Hibiki, finally overpowered by their opponent.

Mifune and the other one, who seemed to be the leader, made to take off with Himawari and quite suddenly, she did the thing no shinobi should ever do: she panicked.

And Kurama answered.

It was like blacking out for a few seconds. Or perhaps a more fitting term might be _redding out_, as Himawari saw nothing but the brightest shade of scarlet as the chakra engulfed her. When it was over, there was no longer a kunai at her neck nor a kunoichi at her back. In fact, said kunoichi was now on the ground, unmoving and glassy-eyed. The leader, whose mask had partially been blown off by the force, stared at her from yards away, the comrade Konohamaru had taken care of slung over her shoulder. Blue-green eyes bored into Himawari and she caught a flash of orange hair before five of the six had disappeared as suddenly as they had come, leaving one woman on the ground.

Himawari looked down at the nin whose skin was as red and burnt as her own, whose brown eyes even now were beginning to cloud over.

Slowly, a sense of horror was planted in her chest, permeating like an ink blot on wet paper through to her head. Himawari's voice came out as a whimper. "Dead . . ." was all she said, before her knees buckled and her eyes rolled back.

* * *

><p><strong>hope you enjoyed! don't forget to review!<strong>

**and happy thanksgiving :)**

**-oldsoul**


	7. Tranquility

Chapter 7

"She – is – a – _genin!_"

The woman's nostrils flared in anger and her black eyes flashed, though she didn't go so far as to reach her hands out of the sleeves of her sakura-patterned kimono.

"I was under the impression that you were a jonin-level nin." She continued icily, "But if you are so incompetent that you struggle to catch a mere genin, maybe you are a shinobi worthy only of the same rank. Added to the fact that you _left behind a body_! Have I not trained you enough?! You know better than to leave behind a body! Konoha's medical nin are incredibly perceptive when it comes to extracting information."

The fire-haired girl on one knee before her grimaced visibly at these verbal barbs, bowing her head. "Chiyome-sama please, I beg of you –"

"No!" the older woman cut her off sharply, "Do not beg, Rumika-san. It is unbecoming of a kunoichi."

Rumika dipped her head in apology. "Forgive me Chiyome-sama, we were unprepared and luck was not on our side. When Mifune fell it would have been difficult to retain her body. I chose to rescue Hikari, since the interrogation department will have a much harder time torturing something out of a corpse rather than a living person. As for the girl . . . her teammates were more skilled than I had planned. And . . ."

"And what?" Chiyome demanded when the girl hesitated.

"And the chakra was extraordinarily powerful."

Chiyome's eyes narrowed. "You mean the chakra that killed Mifune?"

Rumika nodded, lifting a hand to her burned cheek where the inflamed red skin still had not begun to heal. "I'm not certain . . . but I think it could be the Kyuubi's chakra."

Chiyome let loose a hissing sound. "Impossible!" she glanced down at Rumika then clicked her tongue thoughtfully, "But if it were true . . . no. We will need more information on this before we make a move. But first I must find and train a replacement for Mifune. She was from Iwa, yes? Pity she's dead, but Iwa is usually one of our most productive villages." She motioned for Rumika to rise. "You were of Iwa, weren't you?"

"Kiri, my Lady." Rumika corrected, pushing herself to her full height which was quite lofty, though still a few inches shy of Chiyome's traditional black wig.

"Ah yes," Chiyome nodded, remembering, "Well, it matters not. I want you to contact our Konoha relation; tell her to keep an eye on the Hokage's child. If it is as you say and she has the Kyuubi's chakra, than perhaps our operation may become slightly less complicated . . . provided I have nin who are capable of capturing a genin." She shot a rather reproachful look at Rumika.

"It won't happen again, Chiyome-sama." The girl muttered in promise. Chiyome nodded, sailing out the door of the room ahead of Rumika

"I should hope not."

….

Himawari swung her legs off the edge of her chair, careful not to kick her father's desk by accident.

"And then you blacked out?" Naruto asked, tapping his prosthetic index finger on the desk in thought.

Himawari nodded, having repeated the story of their mission to her father once again. Konohamaru stood at Naruto's left shoulder and Nara Shikamaru at his left, the latter watching her with an air of jaded curiosity, and she was reminded of the differences between him and his son. Shikadai was cocky and rather lazy despite his natural intelligence, and when he bothered himself to speak his voice was loud and usually his words were quite blunt.

The father preferred to _watch_ things in unintelligible silence, and that was her only impression of Nara Shikamaru, though she'd been told that he was the smartest living shinobi in the ninja world.

His watching shifted to Naruto, who was busy chewing the inside of his cheek. The uncomfortable silence of the Hokage thinking was broken by a sharp rap on the office door and the prompt opening of said door.

"You called for me, Hokage-sama?" Moegi asked, taking in the scene with slight confusion. It was plain to see she had no idea what she'd been called in for. "Oh hey Konohamaru!" she brightened upon seeing her old teammate. This particular teammate coughed into his sleeve to hide the tinge of pink in his cheeks and murmured something that sounded like a sufficient greeting. This was not missed by Shikamaru, who smirked appropriately.

"Hm? Oh yeah." Naruto replied, as if he was only just now remembering that he'd asked for Moegi. "I had a few questions about Bolt."

Moegi, who had always been quick on the uptake, flicked her gaze from Naruto to Konohamaru to Himawari and her look of confusion was replaced by one of comprehension.

"He hasn't had problems with the Kyuubi's chakra, if that's what you mean. Why? Has something happened with Himawari?"

Training. That was what came after the day in the Hokage's office. Training to subdue the Nine-tails, to force it into submission, to control it.

Mostly, this consisted of meditating. Every day for three months, Naruto found time to sit with his daughter in the woods in silence while she concentrated on squashing the offending chakra. Himawari noticed that during these meditation sessions, her father almost always ended up with orange rings around his eyes, though she never felt the need to ask him about it.

Naturally, with Himawari receiving special training from the Hokage, Sarada hated her all the more. Because it was obviously the result of Himawari's ties to the head of the Leaf and the renowned Hyuuga clan, rather than the fact that she had a great evil living inside her that posed threat to the entire village.

Bolt was jealous at first, but after realizing that _he_ could control the Kyuubi's chakra while the genius Himawari could not was a source of great egoism on his part. More, perhaps, than was healthy.

Himawari could not control the chakra in the true sense of the word, but by the time Naruto had taught her all there was to know, Kurama lay dormant inside her, never flaring, never showing itself. At times she could almost forget it was there.

And it would not trouble her again for two whole years.

**did you like? don't forget to review! **

**-oldsoul**


	8. Foreigners

**this chap is all talk and no action but I hope you enjoy it anyway! please review!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 8<p>

Himawari's eleventh and twelfth years were a world of D-rank and C-rank missions. Of overridden gardens that needed weeding, of rogue pets to be found and destructive wild boar to be stopped. There were escort missions and rice-picking and old ladies to take care of.

Team five's chemistry was as bad as it ever was. Sarada and Himawari were always at each other's throats, while Taro moaned constantly about how dumb girls were and Hibiki just wagged his tail and attempted to snuggle with anyone and everyone. Konohamaru had learned that there was no sense trying to make them get along. He knew that such teamwork could only be developed through shared hardship, and as shinobi, such hardship was inevitable.

It was shortly after Himawari's thirteenth birthday that Konohamaru approached his team with what could only be classified as the smirk of one who knew something his students didn't.

"Someone's cheerful." Himawari grumbled. She was in a bad mood because several minutes ago Sarada had one-upped her by tossing a chopstick into the only blind spot of Himawari's Byakugan, making her look rather like an idiot.

"The chunin exams are in two weeks." Konohamaru announced, undeterred by Himawari's gloominess. He was met with a definite lack of enthusiasm.

"Oh come on!" Konohamaru whined, "I was hoping for little more celebration. No jumping for joy? No banners that say _Team Konohamaru_?"

"About time, Sensei." Taro grunted, rubbing one of the red fang markings on his cheeks. "We were ready six months ago at the _last_ chunin exams!"

"Yes." Konohamaru acknowledged, "But the rules state that all participants must be at least thirteen years of age, and six months ago not everyone on our team was thirteen."

Himawari was the unfortunate recipient of two distinct glares from her teammates. Hibiki only licked her fingers affectionately, distressed when she pulled them away, mumbling about dog slobber.

"Plus," Their sensei added in an attempt to alleviate the tension, "Two of the other teams from your year are entering this time as well, so you'll have peers."

Two weeks passed excruciatingly slowly when one was excited and trying her very hardest not to show it, but Himawari learned that Moegi was entering her team, as was Sarutobi Asuri. There would also be several returning genin from Konoha including one Team Twelve, led by a man named Rock Lee.

Konohamaru ensured them that despite Rock Lee's eccentric nature, he was a formidable jonin and his team was not to be taken lightly.

Throught the week leading up to the commencement of the exams, genin from the Five Great Nations began trickling in. Many of them were different from the Konoha nin, but in particular Himawari found the Kiri shinobi to be of the greatest cultural differences. Konoha and Kiri had had decades of war in the past, preventing them from intermingling as they would with the other villages. The Kiri nin were all rather quiet and prickly, and from what Himawari had observed, they refused to make eye contact with anyone while eating.

The Kumo genin were the ones who got on everyone's nerves. Naturally cocky and overly competitive, they dared be so rude to Konoha nin _in their own village_. Taro had been itching to start a fight with a particularly antagonistic young man by the name of Jota, but decided he'd rather not be disqualified for fighting before the exams had even begun.

Iwa resided in quiet arrogance, though they weren't beneath pulling a few underhanded pranks on anyone and everyone they came across.

It was Suna that the Konoha nin got along best with. Sunagakure and Konohagakure had long been allies and shared similar customs with one another, each having citizens in their village that were native of the other. Nara Shikadai, for example, was half Suna himself.

And so it was that on the first of June, two hundred or so genin found themselves squashed together in the front yard of the Academy. A single form stood before the crowd, elegant and slightly feminine, but decidedly male nonetheless.

"My name is Sai." Was the only thing the man said at first, a friendly smile touching his lips. Himawari recognized him then. He was the father of Yamanaka Inojin and most of the time he was the head of the ANBU Black Ops unless his superior, the formidable Uchiha Sasuke, happened to be in town.

No one really knew what Sarada's father did during his time away from the village. But then, most of the time no one knew what ANBU got up to anyway.

The group of genin obediently quieted down at the sound of Sai's voice and he waited until there was no longer any murmur rising from the crowd before he started.

"My name is Sai." Sai stated again, "And I have been given the task of proctoring the first stage of the chunin exams." He beamed brightly at all of them. He certainly didn't seem mysterious or intimidating enough to be an ANBU member, but who was to say.

"I believe this is the largest chunin exams that has been held to date." Sai went on, "We have one hundred ninety five participants this time, from all five of the strongest hidden villages. Some of you are newbies, some of you are returning veterans."

A lanky boy with bushy eyebrows leaned to whisper something to a tall, dark-haired girl, who smirked appreciatively. Himawari recognized them from the profile cards Konohamaru had shown them - Chan Judo was Lee's pupil, and said to be a master of taijutsu. The girl was Mitarashi Tsuya and she never went into battle without a snake summon by her side.

"All of you signed a consent form acknowledging the fact that as safe as we try to make these exams, accidents do occur. Injury or death is possible, and exam proctors, Konoha government, or the governments of Suna, Kiri, Kumo, or Iwa will not be held responsible for such accidents. Individuals, however, are a different story. . ." Sai warned, his black eyes flickering briefly over each of them. "Fraternizing with nin from other teams during the exams is strictly prohibited, as is any attempt to persuade, bribe, genjutsu, or otherwise inhibit the jonin proctors for this exam. Violation of either of these will be met with strict consequences. And that is why." Sai went on smugly, "Your first task will be one of espionage."

Himawari looked around at the many genin who were now whispering to teammates, either excitedly or with trepidation. As for her, with the Byakugan and a ninken working for them, espionage was team five's strong suit.

"Each team," Sai explained, "Will be randomly assigned to another team's quarters. Your task is to infiltrate their living quarters and gather one piece of information about each of the other team's members."

"That doesn't sound too hard." Taro admitted, but Sarada narrowed her eyes. "There's got to be a catch."

"There's always a catch." Himawari agreed.

"Between the two of you. . ." Taro grumbled, but he didn't finished, as Sai had begun to announce the catch itself.

"There will be an experienced chunin guarding each of these buildings. The upside? Once you get past them, you're in – the guards aren't allowed inside. The downside? If any one of your team is incapacitated at any point, the whole team is out. And." Sai added, "Any damages to the house itself or the property of the other team will be paid for _in full_ by the offenders. The first six teams to make it back from each village will move on to the second round. That should rule out a little over half of you. Any questions?"

There were none.

"Then," Sai said pleasantly, "Let us begin assigning team quarters."

* * *

><p><strong>and I realize Asuri's cannon name has been determined to be Mirai, but personally I like Asuri better so i'll stick with that. hope you enjoyed and don't forget to review! ^^<strong>


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